It seems like a good idea to collect all the information we can find on litigation involving Microsoft, anticompetitive practices, and antitrust allegations and violations. In part, we were inspired to do this by the Novell v. Microsoft lawsuit, an anti-trust case seeking money damages filed in U.S. Federal District Court on November, 2004 alleging anti-trust violations by Microsoft in regard to the WordPerfect word processing and Quattro Pro spreadsheet programs. But the SenderID fracas and the issues over Microsoft's license terms, as well as recent hints from Microsoft about patent threats to GNU/Linux were also motivating factors. The shredding of legal documents in the Caldera, Inc. v. Microsoft case was another influence. All in all, it seemed the right time for a permanent collection.

Because we are aware of a tension between patents and antitrust law, we hope a database of evidence (and leads to evidence) showing a long history of anti-competitive acts by Microsoft will serve as a valuable resource: (i) for any F/OSS developers who are later charged by Microsoft with patent infringement; (ii) for developers who may wish to sue Microsoft for refusal to license patented technology on reasonable terms; and (iii) by its existence and availability, creating a deterrent that will hopefully cause Microsoft decision-makers to think long and hard before mounting an intellectual property attack against the F/OSS community's code base or trying to establish a patent licensing policy to embrace and extend interoperability standards with proprietary rights to cripple F/OSS competition with Microsoft.

We've been working on this for a couple of weeks in-house. Now we feel we have enough of a framework to open it to the public, although we are aware it is not yet complete. If you know of any links we've overlooked, please do provide them in your comments, and we'll incorporate them. Then we'll make this a permanent resource page on Groklaw.

Pulp Fiction writer sues Microsoft over virtual yoga | The Register
- The complaint accuses Microsoft of breach of implied contract, breach of duty, breach of confidence, misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. Avary claims Microsoft used his ideas in a Yoga game for the X-box designed with ResponDesign called Yourself!Fitness

Brazil: Board of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense v. Microsoft Brazil

O'Reilly Network: The Caldera v. Microsoft DossierAndrew Shulman's summary of the DR-DOS anti-trust case. Note his mention of the secrecy requirements on the settlement agreement and the numerous dead links to court documents formerly available on the Caldera DR-DOS and Microsoft web sites.

European Commission press release on decision
- Summarizes ruling on anti-trust claims:As regards interoperability, Microsoft is required, within 120 days, to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers. This will enable rival vendors to develop products that can compete on a level playing field in the work group server operating system market. The disclosed information will have to be updated each time Microsoft brings to the market new versions of its relevant productsAs regards tying, Microsoft is required, within 90 days, to offer to PC manufacturers a version of its Windows client PC operating system without WMP. The un-tying remedy does not mean that consumers will obtain PCs and operating systems without media players. Most consumers purchase a PC from a PC manufacturer which has already put together on their behalf a bundle of an operating system and a media player. As a result of the Commission's remedy, the configuration of such bundles will reflect what consumers want, and not what Microsoft imposes.

Microsoft Corp. and Be Inc. Reach Agreement to Settle Litigation
- (Microsoft press release.) "MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., and REDMOND, Wash. -- Sept. 5, 2003 -- Be Inc. (Nasdaq: BEOS; OTC:BEOSZ.PK) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced that the parties have reached a mutually acceptable mediated settlement of an antitrust lawsuit filed by Be Inc. in February 2002, which is currently pending in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore. Be will receive a payment from Microsoft, after attorneyï¿½s fees, in the amount of $23,250,000 (U.S.) to end further litigation, and Microsoft admits no wrongdoing. All other terms of the settlement will remain confidential."

MS Settles Anti-Trust Charges with Be 9/8/03 "Previously, Be claimed that in 1998 its Be Operating System was
to be part of Hitachi's pre-installed "dual boot system." Be says
Microsoft was angry with Hitachi's decision and pressured the company with
higher prices for its Windows OS. Any price increase would pressure Hitachi's
margins on each PC, making it more cost-effective to remove the BeOS."

Coordinated State Enforcement of Microsoft Antitrust Judgments
- How to file complaints against Microsoft with the various state attorneys general offices involved in enforcing the judgments involved in New York v. Microsoft. Also has copies of the relevant court judgments for both the New York and California groups.

EC Gets MS to Change Contract - "Adding to a long list of investigations into its competitive practices, Microsoft (MSFT) agreed today to modify a controversial 1987 contract affecting rival Santa Cruz Operation (SCOC) after the European Commission found that Microsoft had infringed European competition laws.

Microsoft, hardware vendors face raft of OEM license suits - "A FRENCH GINGER group is forecasting further legal action
against Microsoft and system manufacturers in France for
bundling Windows software with built machines and failing
to give adequate recompense if people don't accept the
user end licence agreement." 12/12/04

Gates, Buffett a bit bearish | CNET News.com
- Bill Gates: "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."